Demography and development

Case study: Mumbai's unchecked

expansion

Drone photos of Mumbai reveal the places where extreme poverty meets extreme wealth

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I. The challenge of a growing and ageing world population ................................................. 3
A. An increasingly populated world..................................................................................... 3
B. Factors influencing population growth ........................................................................... 6
❖ Fertility rates ............................................................................................................ 6
❖ Increasing longevity ................................................................................................. 6
❖ International migration ............................................................................................ 6
C. Different demographic challenges according to the demographic transition ................ 7
❖ To what extent the high fertility can be an asset? .................................................. 7
❖ What is at stake for ageing countries? .................................................................... 8
D. Largest urban areas (according to population density) ............................................ 10
II. Mumbai: for a sustainable and fair development ........................................................... 13
A. Location ......................................................................................................................... 14
B. Social and economic challenges .................................................................................... 23
❖ The Dharavi slum ................................................................................................... 24
C. Towards an economic transition: Fighting against inequalities at all levels ................. 32
❖ A better sharing of the effects of economic growth ............................................. 33
❖ A more environmentally friendly development model ......................................... 34
❖ A more innovative economic model ...................................................................... 36
III. Fighting against inequalities at all levels .......................................................................... 39
A. National scale ..........................................................................Erreur ! Signet non défini.

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 I. The challenge of a growing and ageing world
population
A. An increasingly populated world

The world’s population is expected to increase by 2 billion persons in the next 30 years, from
7.7 billion currently to 9.7 billion in 2050 and could peak at nearly 11 billion around 2100. (UN)

https://www.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/FT_19.06.08_UNPopulationProjections_revised.gif?w=640

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Study the projection (use the link above to view the animation), what can you observe for
Asia, Europe and Africa in the next decades?
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The world’s median age is expected to increase to 42 in 2100,
up from the current 31 – and from 24 in 1950.

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B. Factors influencing population growth

❖ Fertility rates
Fertility in all European countries is
now below the level required for full
replacement of the population in
the long run (around 2.1 children
per woman) and global fertility is
projected to fall from 2.5 children
per woman in 2019 to 2.2 in 2050.

❖ Increasing longevity
Overall, significant gains in life
expectancy have been achieved in
recent years. Globally, life
expectancy at birth is expected to
rise from 72.6 years in 2019 to 77.1
years in 2050. While considerable
progress has been made in closing
the longevity differential between
countries, large gaps remain. In
2019, life expectancy at birth in the
least developed countries lags 7.4
years behind the global average,
due largely to persistently high
levels of child and maternal
mortality, as well as violence,
conflict and the continuing impact
of the HIV epidemic.

❖ International migration
International migration is a much smaller component of population change than births
or deaths. However, in some countries and areas the impact of migration on
population size is significant, namely in countries that send or receive large numbers
of economic migrants and those affected by refugee flows. Between 2010 and 2020,
fourteen countries or areas will see a net inflow of more than one million migrants,
while ten countries will see a net outflow of similar magnitude.

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 C. Different demographic challenges according to the
demographic transition

❖ To what extent the high fertility can be an asset?

Based Doc1, complete the following chart.

Doc1
India is expected to reap the benefits of the demographic dividend in the coming years. With
half of India's population today under the age of twenty-five, the number of working people
will increase by 30% by 2020. At the same time, the increasing participation of women in the
labour force is lowering the fertility rate and increasing school enrolment. This could increase
annual growth by 2 percentage points over the next 20 years, according to current IMF
(International Monetary Fund) projections. Despite the massive persistence of poverty, this
population growth is fuelling a remarkable expansion of the middle classes, which have grown
by more than 205 million over the last 20 years, a guarantee of economic and democratic
strengthening.

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 ❖ What is at stake for ageing countries?
Based on Doc2, draw a mind-map summarizing the situation.

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Doc2
Population ageing is poised to become one of the most significant social transformations of
the twenty-first century, with implications for nearly all sectors of society, including labour
and financial markets, the demand for goods and services, such as housing, transportation and
social protection, as well as family structures and intergenerational ties. […] In the coming
decades, many countries are likely to face fiscal and political pressures in relation to public
systems of health care, pensions and social protections for a growing older population.
Trends in Population Ageing Globally, the population aged 65 and over is growing faster
than all other age groups.
According to data from World Population Prospects: the 2019 Revision, by 2050, one in six
people in the world will be over age 65 (16%), up from one in 11 in 2019 (9%). By 2050, one in
four persons living in Europe and Northern America could be aged 65 or over. In 2018, for the
first time in history, persons aged 65 or above outnumbered children under five years of age
globally. The number of persons aged 80 years or over is projected to triple, from 143 million
in 2019 to 426 million in 2050.
Demographic drivers of population ageing
The size and age composition of a population are determined jointly by three demographic
processes: fertility, mortality and migration. All regions have experienced substantial
increases in life expectancy since 1950. As the life expectancy at birth increases,
improvements in survival at older ages account for a growing proportion of the overall
improvement in longevity. While declining fertility and increasing longevity are the key drivers
of population ageing globally, international migration has also contributed to changing
population age structures in some countries and regions. In countries that are experiencing
large immigration flows, international migration can slow the ageing process, at least
temporarily, since migrants tend to be in the young working ages. However, migrants who
remain in the country eventually will age into the older population.

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D. Largest urban areas (according to population density)

1) Use the following documents and on the map below draw a schematic map showing
the current 10 largest urban areas in the world and the projected 10 largest urban
areas in the world (based on population)? Please take time to think of an efficient to
make this information clear. Don’t forget all the elements a map needs.

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More than half of the world’s population currently lives in cities—and as time goes on, it’s
clear that more urban dwellers will find themselves living in megacities. Megacities are
defined as urban areas with a population of more than 10 million people. This means that the
world’s top 20 most populous cities are all megacities.
This visualization, using data from Macrotrends, shows the 20 most populous cities in the
world.

Urban growth will continue mainly in Asia and Africa, as some cities in regions such as Europe
actually begin to shrink in population due to aging citizens and declining birth rates. Since
2012, deaths in the EU have actually been outpacing births—and in 2019, there were 4.7
million deaths compared to 4.2 million births, though net migration kept population numbers
from falling.

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Rapid Urbanization
Today, more than 80% of people in higher income countries find themselves living in urban
areas, and in upper-middle income countries the number lies between 50-80%.
Rural-to-urban migration is an increasingly relevant trend in the 21st century. Prospects of
better job opportunities and higher wages, along with shifts from agrarian to industrial and
service-based economies, are causing mass movement to cities.
Life in the City
While there are certainly downsides to mass urbanization, like pollution and overcrowding,
the upsides clearly outweigh the negatives for most people. Convenience, better jobs, easier
access to social services, and higher wages are among the many reasons people are likely to
continue to move to cities, even in the post-COVID era.
With the emergence of smart and green cities, the quality of life for many urban dwellers will
likely continue to improve, and more large urban areas will morph into megacities.

2) Explain with your own words the future of urban areas. Please be as precise as
possible.
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II. Mumbai: for a sustainable and fair development
Mumbai now has a long history of suburbanisation,
and many key events have occurred in the
suburbanisation process, initially in a Northwards
direction along major transport routes such as
roads and rail links, and now in an Eastward
direction. This suburbanisation has involved not
just the growth of residential areas but also the
relocation and growth of new industrial areas.

The rise of Shivaji Park area,

1930s to 1940s Matunga and Mahim as the
outlying suburbs

Inner suburbs in southern

1960s (post
Salsette and Chembur-
independence)
Trombay had emerged

Assimilation of the
1970s `extended suburbs' beyond
Vile-Parle and Ghatkopar.

Mumbai is an important case because its development trajectory must contend with both the
pressures of (population) growth and huge local, regional, and global environmental
challenges.

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 A. Location

Mumbai (previously known as Bombay until 1996) is a natural harbor on the west coast of
India and is the capital city of Maharashtra state. It is India's largest city, and one of the world's
most populous cities. It is the financial capital of India. The city is the second most-populous
in the world. It has approximately 14 million people. Along with the neighboring cities of Navi
Mumbai and Thane, it forms the world's 4th largest urban agglomeration. They have around
19 million people.

1. Based on doc 4, on the blank map below, locate:

- India and it’s neighboring countries
- The Capital of India
- Maharashtra state
- Mumbai
- Bay of Bengal
- Arabian Sea
Don’t forget all the elements a map needs.

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Doc4

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 2. Describe doc5, be as precise as possible.
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Doc5

Figure 1 The area surrounding the Bandra Kurla complex (on the right) is a mixture of extreme poverty and extreme wealth
(including the consulate generals of several countries, corporate headquarters, and the National Stock Exchange).

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 3. Based on doc6-7-8-9, draw a schematic map of Mumbai, locating:
- Its main communication network (roads, airport, stations, ports…)
- Its slums
Don’t forget all the elements a map needs.

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Doc6

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Doc7: have a look at the 4th picture (a map of the slums in Mumbai)
https://unequalscenes.com/mumbai

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Doc8

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Doc9

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As mentioned before, Mumbai is a city that faces many challenges, and those challenges are
large because of its immense size and rapid growth. Physical Geography also plays a role, as
Mumbai has been limited in where it can grow…

4. Have a look at doc10 and try to explain what physical features limited Mumbai’s
growth. You can also go back to doc4 to help you.
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Doc10

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 B. Social and economic challenges

Bombay is a thriving megacity that has had an economic boom in recent years. Indeed,
property in Mumbai is becoming some of the most expensive in the world. One 28 story
structure for one family cost £2 billion. However, many of the residents of Mumbai live in
illegal squatter settlements (known as bustees in India).
In terms of population size Mumbai is India's largest city, and is the financial capital of the
country, being home to the Mumbai Stock Exchange. Up until the 1980s, Mumbai owed its
wealth to its historical colonial past, textile mills and the seaport, but the local economy has
since been diversified and now Mumbai is home to most of India's specialised technical
industries, having a modern industrial infrastructure and vast, skilled human resources.
Industries include aerospace, optical engineering, medical research, computers and electronic
equipment of all varieties, shipbuilding and salvaging, and renewable energy. Mumbai serves
as an important economic hub of India, contributing 10% of all factory employment and 40%
of India's foreign trade. Many of India's numerous Trans National Corporations (including the
State Bank of India, Tata Group, Godrej and Reliance) are based in Mumbai. Other formalized
workers include many state and government workers.
Alongside this incredible wealth is a large unskilled and informal workforce, who work as self-
employed and often unregulated workers. Many of these people earn their living as street
hawkers, street sellers, taxi drivers, mechanics and other such occupations.
Bollywood and other Media Industries also employ huge numbers of people. Most of India's
major television and satellite networks, as well as its major publishing houses, have
headquarters here.

As mentioned earlier, the major problem in Mumbai is the growth of squatter settlements
known in India as SLUMS — defined by the United Nations as human settlements with
inadequate access to safe water and sanitation, poor housing quality, overcrowding and
insecure residential status.

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 ❖ The Dharavi slum
One of the world’s most infamous slums is Dharavi slum, which is the largest squatter
settlement located in Mumbai in India. There are a million people crammed into one square
mile in Dharavi. At the edge of Dharavi the newest arrivals come to make their homes on
waste land next to water pipes in slum areas. They set up home illegally amongst waste on
land that is not suitable for habitation. In the wet monsoon season these people have huge
problems living on this low lying marginal land.

1) Based on the video answer to the questions below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJylLFoJmxA
1. List the stereotypes about Dharavi.
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2. What do the “flats” in Dharavi look like?
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3. Describe the water situation in the neighborhood.
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 4. What type of health issues do people in the slum face? Why?
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5. What do the streets look like?
The streets are very narrow and
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6. What makes it very difficult for people to move out of the slum? (2things)
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Go through doc11 to 16 and use your knowledge to fill in this table regarding the situation
in Dharavi

Population (density,
jobs, community…)

Living conditions
Quality and quantity of
water

Pollution

Homes (type, size,

equipment,…)

Sanitation
(bathroom,…)

Health issues

Spatial organizations
Type of buildings
(hotel?shops?houses?)

Streets

Slum organization

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Doc11
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmV1OPpuSFE
What did Dharavi use to be before becoming a slum? What industry is the video focusing
on? What do the streets look like? How is business doing?
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Doc12

Mumbai, a City Both Uplifting and Heartbreaking

By Lucas Peterson for the NYT
Dec. 20, 2018
India’s largest city is known for both the poverty of its slums and the richness of its history,
museums, nightclubs, restaurants and street food.

Figure 2 Fashion Street, always bustling with shoppers, has hundreds of stalls containing anything shoppers might want to
buy -- dresses, T-shirts, jeans and accessories.

The profile of the Dharavi slum in Mumbai, one of the most densely populated neighborhoods
in the world, may have risen when it was showcased in the Oscar-winning movie “Slumdog
Millionaire,” but my tour guide didn’t particularly care about that at the moment. What
concerned him more was the pejorative nature of the word “slum” and how outsiders
perceived Dharavi, an area smaller than New York City’s Central Park but where about a million
people live and work.
“We don’t want people to think slums are dangerous and full of lazy people,” said Hitesh
Vaidya, a guide for Reality Tours and Travel. The reality of daily life in Dharavi is sobering,
however: Laborers work in unsafe conditions, and a lack of basic services like clean water and
sanitation facilities endangers the health of residents. Mr. Vaidya and I spent the next couple
of hours touring the many different industries and businesses within Dharavi, which included
plastics recycling, textile manufacturing and food production. I left with a better knowledge
of both the poverty and industriousness of Dharavi, as well as an understanding of Mr.
Vaidya’s point: that the two are not mutually exclusive. (…)

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Doc13

Dharavi, at the center of Mumbai, is a world in itself, a treasure of skilled labourers

that the outside world is largely unaware of. Among the clusters of beehive hutments
are about 20,000 small-scale manufacturing units – including the workshop of Suresh
Sonaji Gajakosh, who has lived here all his life.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2014/nov/25/dharavi-mumbai-mini-factories-slum

Doc14

Houses are built mainly from rubbish - more

precisely from wooden panels, old bricks,
slate and metal pallets. Some people do not
build houses at all, but put tents from sack
just on the streets that sowed with tons of
garbage. They use narrow streets as kitchen,
toilet, shower and even manage to work
here. Of course, there are a few full-fledged
buildings where you can rent a real room for
$4 - this is the lowest price for rent per
month in the world. (The price for sexual
services is almost the same). People have to go to the toilet in the street and there are open
sewers because 500 people share one public latrine. Children play amongst sewage waste and
doctors deal with 4,000 cases a day of diphtheria and typhoid.
The people have not planned this settlement and have no legal rights to the land. In addition,
the slum houses have little in the way of security. Mumbai as a whole has a problem with
crime, such as pick pockets and organised begging.

Doc15

For many Mumbaiites, living in and around Dharavi is nothing short of hell. One of the largest
slums in Asia, though Dharavi does not have a major industry, it is home to many scrap
recycling units and small-scale industries. It houses tanneries, recycling units, pottery kilns and
plastic washing units, making it one of the most polluted places in the city.
In the last pollution study of Dharavi by the National Environmental Engineering Research
Institute (NEERI) in November 2010, 551.7 microgram/metre cube (ug/m3) of average
suspended particulate matter (SPM) was found, a figure more than five times higher than the
permissible limit set by the Central Pollution Control Board.
Though pollution is not new, it’s getting worse, say residents, pointing to the waste
incineration on Sion-Mahim Link Road, which they allege has become acute. Behind a fleet of
illegally parked trucks and tempos, an assortment of waste is incinerated, which abuts a huge
swathe of mangroves. Every night, the illegal incineration of electronic waste, cable wires,
copper wires, PVC pipes, plastic, paper and chemical dyes throws up thick plumes of odorous,
toxic smoke around Naya Nagar, Mahim (east), Dharavi T-junction and Shahu Nagar.

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It’s not just the smoke. “Pollutants from workshops, vehicles and the adjacent scrap yard in
Mahim add to the pollution,” Shaikh said. Rakesh Kumar, chief scientist and head, Neeri,
Mumbai, said: “Studies have showed that the maximum variety of pollutants is found in
Dharavi. These are released from tanneries, plastic units, scrap yards and through incineration
of solvents and e-waste,” he said.
Pollution from the scrap recycling units and kilns spread to Mahim, Sion and Bandra. A
comparison of the January 2012 and January 2013 pollution readings by Maharashtra
Pollution Control Board in Sion shows that the average respiratory suspended particulate
matter (RSPM) has doubled from 101.53 ug/m3 last year to 208.89 ug/m3 this year.
This pollution can lead to recurring instances of bronchitis and other pulmonary disorders,
said Dr Jalil Parkar, pulmonologist, Lilavati hospital. “In an area like Dharavi, where pollutants
are not dispersed quickly, asthma patients suffer from frequent attacks,” he said.

Doc16

A Billion People Live in Slums. Can They Survive the Virus?

The most important factor in enabling the spread of pandemics in slums is the neglect of these
marginalized populations by governing elites.
NYT - April 8, 2020

Figure 3The Dharavi settlement in Mumbai, India, is one of Asia’s largest slums.

(….) Infectious-disease epidemics tend to spread into slums. Cases of coronavirus infection
have already been reported from Dharavi in Mumbai, India; Orangi Town in Karachi, Pakistan;
and Payatas in Manila. The Ebola epidemic in West Africa between 2014 and 2016 was largely
driven by the virus entering the large and densely populated urban slums of Liberia, Guinea
and Sierra Leone.

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During epidemics, slum residents are much more vulnerable to respiratory infections such as
influenza and dengue. In a 2018 report from Delhi, for example, researchers estimated that
even with widespread vaccination and social distancing (staying home, closing schools,
isolating the sick), slum populations would suffer 44 percent higher influenza infection rates
than those in non-slum communities.
Crowding is an important reason for the increased infection rate in slums: The population
density of slums in Delhi, for instance, is 10 to 100 times higher than that of other communities
and nearly 30 times that of New York City. Undernutrition of children and high prevalence of
chronic medical conditions in adults make residents further susceptible to infection.
Limited access to sanitation services is another problem: In slums that lack enough clean public
toilets, the coronavirus could spread through feces. And access to clean water is yet another,
one that the preventive restriction of movement could actually exacerbate.
What’s more, indoor air pollution caused by cooking with biomass fuel in poorly ventilated or
windowless homes can contribute to chronic respiratory conditions — increasing the risk of
severe coronavirus infections for residents.
But the most important factor in enabling the spread of pandemics in slums is the neglect of
these marginalized populations by governing elites. There is little previous effort to prevent
the spread of diseases. Access to tests for the coronavirus, for example, is extremely limited.
Interventions need to be carefully considered. Without taking into account the specific needs
of slum dwellers, measures such as social distancing are impractical. Policies need to be
carried out in partnership with community organizations — such as Slum Dwellers
International, a global network of community-based organizations that has mapped many
settlements. Even local gangs could be partners. In the slums of Brazil, some gang groups have
built hand-washing stalls at the main entrances to some slums.
(…) The world’s public health systems and governments must make sure that people who live
in slums, homeless encampments and refugee camps are not forgotten. We must prepare to
deal with the consequences of the pandemic — for all populations.

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 C. Towards an economic transition: Fighting against
inequalities at all levels

The economic transition is a complex economic transformation aiming at more balanced

economic, social, and environmental development. The concept meets the perspective of a
sustainable economic growth and relies both on innovation and on the collaboration of all
economic players. This transition calls for a change, from a linear model of society based on
“extraction, production, consumption, waste”, to a circular model that turns waste into
resources.

There are several conditions to achieve this transition:

Condition#1 : A better sharing of the effects of economic growth.

Condition #2 : A more environmentally friendly development model.
Condition#3 : A more innovative economic model

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 ❖ A better sharing of the effects of economic growth
India’s is seeing the rise of a new middle class that has pulled itself out of the clutches of
poverty […]

Use the doc above to answer to the following question:

1. Explain what does “middle class” mean according to the document (on the left side).
Can we talk about “a” middle class or “middle classes”?
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2. Are middle classes homogeneous?
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3. How have middle class evolve on the period?
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4. What is the effect of growing middle classes on poverty in emerging countries?

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 ❖ A more environmentally friendly development model

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTTr7RGH37c
1. Describe all the critics done about our way of living/producing in the short film below.
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2. To his opinion, what could be the “end of the story” if we don’t change anything?
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3. What other ways of environmentally friendly development do you know?
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4. Based on doc17, describe how Mumbai is working towards sustainability.
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Doc17

Mumbai Set To Become a Sustainable City in 3 Years

April 15, 2017

Devendra Fadnavis, the young Chief Minister of Maharashtra, seems to be on a mission mode
to transform cities of Maharashtra into sustainable cities. Development plans of all major
cities have been sanctioned with the big one – on Mumbai – set to come for approval shortly.
Edited excerpts of his speech at the ET Lands Summit in Mumbai recently
Managing urbanization is the biggest challenge for governments today. We have been in a
denial mode for a long time believing that India lives in its villages. In fact, 65% of our GDP
comes from our cities.
Indian cities are unsustainable urbanization. No Indian city has proper waste management
today. We have miserably failed to make our cities sustainable.
Not a drop of sewage in Mumbai is treated today before it goes to the sea. In the next 3 to 4
years we will treat every single drop of sewage in Mumbai.
Big push to public transport
No city has found solution using private transport. It’s only the public transport that makes
the city sustainable. Mumbai suburban railway transports 7 million people a day today. But it
is not enough.
In the past two years, we have planned 200 kms of metro work, started work on 120 km and
all 200 kms will be ready for use by 2022. This can carry 9 million passengers.
An SPV (special project vehicle) has been floated for an elevated sub-urban corridor project.
This will transport 4 million passengers more.
We are integrating all modes of transport. Creating digital platform where a person will be
able to find all the direction through an app. We will also be bringing it on a single ticket.
I have cleared development plans for most of the cities in Maharashtra. It used to take 10 to
15 years before, now we have cleared all of them in two years. The Mumbai development plan
is expected to be presented soon and that too will be cleared without any delay.
Nagpur will be the first city in the country to treat all its sewage and sell the water to power
plants by next year. Now it is treating 60% of its sewage.
My government is totally committed to sustainability.

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 ❖ A more innovative economic model
Switching from fossil fuels to renewable energy, such as the geothermal heat from magma
beneath Iceland’s lava fields, is an essential step toward a circular economy—one that would
produce no waste of any kind.
Go through this article and answer to the following questions:

Is a world without trash possible? BY MARC DE WIT

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/how-a-circular-economy-could-save-the-world-feature

(…)For that same half century, environmentalists have been warning of limits to growth. The
new “circular economy” movement is different. It’s a collection of strategies—some old, such
as reducing, reusing, and recycling, and some new, such as renting rather than owning
things—that together are meant to reshape the global economy to eliminate waste. The
circular economy doesn’t aim to end growth; it aims to bend how we do things back into
harmony with nature, so that growth can continue. “Prosperity in a world of finite resources,”
as European environment commissioner Janez Potočnik once put it, in the foreword to an
Ellen MacArthur Foundation report. It said the circular economy could save European
businesses up to $630 billion a year.
The idea is catching on, particularly in Europe, that small, crowded, rich but resource-poor
continent. The European Union is investing billions in the strategy. The Netherlands has
pledged to go fully circular by 2050. Amsterdam, Paris, and London all have plans. “It must
happen,” said Wayne Hubbard, head of the London Waste and Recycling Board, when I asked
whether the circular economy could happen.
One man who definitely thinks it could happen, and whose work has proved revelatory to
many others, is American architect William McDonough. With German chemist Michael
Braungart, he wrote the visionary 2002 book Cradle to Cradle, which argues that products and
economic processes could be designed such that all waste becomes fodder for something else.
Before setting off for Europe, I made a pilgrimage to McDonough’s office in Charlottesville,
Virginia. Our conversation ricocheted from his childhood in Tokyo, through Plato, Aristotle,
and Buckminster Fuller, to some new compostable blue jeans he was excited about, before I
finally managed to ask him the nagging question: Is all this talk of an end to waste just pie in
the sky? (utopique)
“It’s absolutely pie in the sky, no question about it,” McDonough said. “You need pies in the
sky to help us go forward. Because remember what Leibniz said.” I didn’t remember much
about that German philosopher. “Leibniz said, ‘If it is possible, therefore it exists.’ And I’m
saying, ‘If we can make it exist, it’s therefore possible.’ ”
Was that tautological? Was it wise? Did Leibniz really say that? It was intriguing, in any case.
Not long after that, I took my busted old roller bag to be repaired (very circular, compared
with buying a new one), packed the certified cradle-to-cradle jeans that McDonough had given
me, and headed out to see what evidence of possible existence I could find for the circular
economy.

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 1. Marc de Wit explains why we must change our way to produce. Can you explain his
point of view?
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2. What does a circular economy aim at?
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3. Read the following article and explain the presence of a circular economy in Dharavi.
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Circular Economy in the Slums – Dharavi, Mumbai

June 28, 2020, 7:28 am By Zayaan Merchant, Senior Prefect at GEMS Wellington Academy

With over 750,000 inhabitants and 6,000+ small enterprises, Dharavi is one of the most
economically active areas within Mumbai, producing an annual turnover of approximately
$750,000. Being an informal economy – an economy in which data collection on economic
measures such as unemployment are inaccurate, and government policy is not as enforced –
it would be unexpected for Dharavi to promote such a forward-thinking initiative; yet, the
circular economy present is one of the most advanced in the country.
Nothing is wasted in Dharavi. From plastics and car batteries to computer parts, fluorescent
lights, ballpoint pens, plastic bags, paper, cardboard boxes, wire hangers, and any scrap
material. Its economy is a pioneer in sustainable waste management systems. Contemporary
geographers describe the area as a ‘plastic recycling goldmine.’ After the sorting into
recyclable and non-recyclable materials, crushing takes place- here is where materials are
crushed into tiny plastics. Then is the cleaning process and distribution model that caters to
over 60% of Mumbai’s industries that need plastic materials. The plastic recycling industry
within Dharavi alone employs over 250,000 workers, Dharavi is truly a goldmine circular
economy.

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Our primary thought when we think of slums may not be sustainability, but it should. Dharavi
may be perceived as under-developed, but a reason for such a robust informal economy is
the presence of a circular economy. The mindset of not wasting anything may not have come
from a sustainability standpoint, but nonetheless, it works out as a sustainable model. The
environment is not only saved but so is the economy- a trade-off many high-income countries
struggle to make. Let us all try and implement elements of a circular economy into our homes
or workplaces; after all, this is our planet, and we are responsible for the sustainability of its
resources.

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III. Fighting against inequalities at all levels

G7 Leaders’ Summit: Fighting inequalities

Remarks by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, 25 August 2019 - Biarritz, France

1. What is the OECD ?

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2. Present the document.
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 3. What could we do at a local level to reduce those inequalities ?
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In conclusion, the demographic evolution of the planet has a strong influence on human
development. Its control is important for better access to health systems and education.
Similarly, inequalities at all levels must be tackled to improve living conditions for all. The
economic transition is a major way to explore for that.

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